We are so excited for our professional member, Codeverse, the first interactive classroom and platform designed to teach children ages 6 to 12 the crucial skill of coding, on the news of their expansion into both Naperville and Willmette! To learn more about Codeverse, see https://www.codeverse.com.

From the UIC Women in Engineering Programs web site (see complete details there):

Girls who Code at UIC Club is a FREE year-round program for 9th-12th grade girls in the Chicagoland area who are interested in exploring computer science! Girls Who Code works to inspire, educate, and equip girls with computing skills to pursue 21st century opportunities.

WHEN IS IT?

Every Saturday, starting on September 29, 2018 and concluding on April 27, 2019, from 10am-12pm (a schedule of meetings will be provided to participants at a later time).

WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS?

Students must be in 9th-12th grade (or returning participants) and commit to being at 80% (2 absences allowed) of our meetings to retain their admission.

IS CODING EXPERIENCE REQUIRED? 

Absolutely not! Our club is open to beginners who do not have any coding or programming experience. In fact, our club consist of 3 different levels:

Beginner level students will learn Scratch and Python.

Intermediate level students will learn Java Script and Web Development.

Advanced and Alumni students will work on the development of apps using their programming skills.

HOW TO JOIN?  

To join, you must apply to be part of the Club! The application to our 2018-19 program can be found at: go.uic.edu/GWCUIC2018

Deadline Extended: September 10, 2018 (or until full)

PROGRAM LOCATION: 

University of Illinois at Chicago

Engineering Research Facility Building

842 West Taylor Street Street

Chicago, IL 60607

Sharing an email received from Fermilab . . .

Fermilab Science Adventures — September – December 2018

 

 

The Fall Science Adventures classes are open for registration on our website. http://ed.fnal.gov/sciadv 

 

Register for many favorite classes, such as: 

September 15, 2018 – Junior Prairie Rangers Stewardship class for grades 4–6

September 29, 2018 – Lego Engineering for grades 6–8

October 13, 2018 – What Makes You So Special? for grades 3–5

October 20, 2018 – Spiders, Spinners of Silk for grades K–2

October 27, 2018 – Magnetic Magic for grades 1–4

November 3, 2018 – Code Cracking, Cryptograms and Other Mysteries for grades 3–5

November 10, 2018 – Flight and Fashion for grades 4–8

November 17, 2018 – Playing with Your Food for grades 1–3

December 1, 2018 – Lego Engineering Juniors for grades 3–5

December 1, 2018 – Earth Engineers for grades 6–8

December 8, 2018 – CSI: Careful Scientific Investigations for grades 3–5

 

Links to Upcoming Public Events: 

Get to Know the Lederman Science Center

Explore Fermilab science from a kid's point of view! Bring your family for a guided tour of Lederman Science Center exhibits on the first Saturday of each month from 10:00 AM to noon. No registration is required.

 

Fermilab Science Adventures is also a Facebook Group.

If you are a Facebook member, go to the top search box and search for “Fermilab Science Adventures” and click "Ask to Join Group" on the top right. As a member, you can read and post questions and comments to the other members of this group. You can also have online chats with other members of the group.

 

Spread the word to your friends. To be added to our e-mail notification list, contact sdahl@fnal.gov.

 

Contact Program Staff

Spencer Pasero, Education and Public Outreach Manager, spasero@fnal.gov

Susan Dahl, sdahl@fnal.gov

I happened upon Debbie Reber and TiltParenting.com one day as I searched the internet for resources to help me as I parent my 3 asynchronous learners or what Debbie refers to as “differently wired” children.  I was so happy to find podcasts that I could listen to as I went through my day, in the car, while doing laundry and while cooking dinner.  Debbie and her guests keep me company as I puzzle through my day.  I find her website and her podcasts “doable” -  its kind of like having a friend who gets it.  

MARBLE RUN CHALLENGE

TUESDAY, JUNE 12 

1:00 – 3:00 PM OR 6:00 – 8:00 PM 

FREE SUMMER ACTIVITY

Using only their engineering minds, recyclables and duct tape, participants will attempt to create the tallest, longest, or most stylish structure. Ages 5-10 welcome. Materials will be provided. Bring your child to one of our free summer adventures, and experience learning the Vanguard way. Check our website for future events.

1078 E. WILSON ST. BATAVIA 

PH: (224) 213-0087 

WWW.VANGUARDGIFTEDACADEMY.ORG 

EMAIL: GIFTED@VANGUARDGIFTEDACADEMY.ORG

This is the theme of this month's Hoagies' Blog Hop: Things I Wish I Knew Back Then.  

Are there things you wish you had known that you would be willing to share with those a little behind you in the parenting lifecycle?  Join us on our members only Facebook page and learn and share with your peers!  

Want to take a free public tour of Fermilab, but can't make it out to the lab for our regular Wednesday tours at 10 a.m.? Well, you're in luck. Last year the lab piloted a Summer Sunday tour program, and it was so successful that we're bringing it back this year. Every third Sunday this summer - May 20, June 17, July 15, Aug. 19 - from 1-3 p.m., you can join a free tour and learn more about what Fermilab does. Registration is required and you will need a photo ID to enter the site. 

Many people join CGCC thinking of us as you might think of the Center for Talent Development, an organization providing gifted programming that might be interesting to the kids. But honestly, we are not competing with all the fantastic groups who provide resources and services for gifted children and their families. We are trying to bring those organizations to light for everyone in the gifted community, through our professional member program. Additionally, it is our hope that people who are inspired to create reasonably-priced opportunities for their children or for parents of gifted children will do so using our framework.

So what does that mean? For starters, it means that we curate an area-wide calendar of events of interest to gifted families. Our focus is generally on affordable, high quality events. Have you looked at our calendar lately? Area Events Calendar (Be sure you are logged on to take advantage of this feature of our website!)

More importantly, it means that CGCC is set up to handle member-initiated events, since we hope to see many of these! We are a 501(c)(3) so we can rent space in many libraries and community center at little to no cost. It means we carry insurance, so those venue and many schools and churches are able to accommodate us. It means that we have a website that can handle registration and receive payment to cover rent and other expenses. It means we have an established communications network to get the word out about events that you plan. CGCC does not aspire to create great programming, but rather to allow you to create great programming for one another.

So where do you begin? Let’s say your son absolutely loves origami, and could use a little more social time with like-minded peers? Great – let’s create a monthly origami club. We can have kids take turns teaching their favorite folded animal, we can watch videos on the history of origami, we can read origami books and report back to the group, we can bring in instructors to get us going. Contact your regional coordinator to discuss your ideas! Let’s find a venue that works and a timeframe that is convenient and get this program set up!

Or perhaps we need a makers club or a programming club or a mindfulness program or a kids speaker on healthy sleeping habits or … You get the idea.

We have several member-initiated programs running at CGCC today. Check out our CGCC Event Calendar for upcoming events. Any of these events could be modified to run in your community. Or better yet, let’s organize something that is perfect for your family. The organizer selects the venue and the meeting dates and times! If you are looking to just dip a toe in the water, how about organizing a gifted parent supper? You choose a restaurant and make a reservation; we post it and meet you there! Please contact your regional coordinator for help getting the ball rolling:

• Far North Ann Marie Tate
  
• North Sarah Alexander
  
• Chicago Rhonda Stern
  
• Western and southern Suburbs Newenka DuMont
  

What kinds of community building are we focusing on at the moment?

• We continue our focus on regional communities. We have a robust set of offerings in the western suburbs, because we have a fair sized base of members there. Since we run programs there we get more members there. We would like to see this same robustness in the far west, in the far north and on the south side. If you are interested in helping us out with this, please contact me!
  
• We are working on gifted special interest groups. Today there are two groups that are meeting.
  
• We have a homeschoolers coop in Skokie – LOGYC - which attracts members from all over! And they are an excellent source of information about homeschooling, even if you are not able to attend the homeschool.
• We have a homeschoolers support organization – HSGS – that runs monthly speakers also in the near north. Their next program is on April 14 and is about Program-based learning. 
• We have a new board member, Carole Jones, who runs the SOS for 2E program in Naperville, for those raising 2E children this is a fantastic program, and again it attracts people from far and wide! The next SOS for 2E program is scheduled for April 16 – Dr. Nick Costakis speaker in Naperville. 

Copenhagen

Northwestern University's ETOPiA and University of Chicago's STAGE present:

Copenhagen

A play by Michael Frayn
Directed by Maureen Payne-Hahner
With Dori Erwin Collins, Matthew Grayson, and James Lashly

Copenhagen is set during World War II, when the friendship of two Nobel Prize-winning physicists is tested by the prospect of providing Nazi Germany with the atomic bomb. A mysterious visit by Werner Heisenberg to Niels Bohr's home in Copenhagen in 1941 brings these renowned physicists and dear friends together under trying circumstances and leads to an argument whose consequences may determine the fate of nations. Uncertainty, the quantum mechanical principle discovered by Heisenberg, lies at every turn as he, Bohr, and Bohr's wife, Margrethe, attempt to reconstruct this fateful conversation and unravel their misunderstanding once and for all. This Tony Award-winning play (2000, Best Play) is based on historical characters and events.

Reserve Tickets

Reserve your seat now. Admission is free, but tickets are required to guarantee seating.

MARCH 30 - APRIL 15, 2018 

Note: March 30 performance is SOLD OUT

• Time: Friday & Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
• Location: Technological Institute, Room LR2, 2145 Sheridan Rd., Evanston
• Map & Directions: Northwestern University, Technological Institute, Room LR2

RESERVE TICKETS

APRIL 20 - APRIL 29, 2018

• Time: Friday & Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
• Location: The STAGE Lab, Reynolds Club, 1131 E. 57th St., Chicago
• Map & Directions: University of Chicago, The STAGE Lab, Reynolds Club

Learn more about STAGE

RESERVE TICKETS

Sponsors

This event is supported by Northwestern University through the Barry and Mary Ann MacLean Fund for Art & Engineering, the James F. and Mary L. Gibbons Art and Technology Fund, the Materials Research Center NSF-MRSEC grant, the International Institute for Nanotechnology, and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

This last month my oldest daughter landed a cabin on the JoCo Cruise and invited me to come along!  “Sure, honey, I’d love to.  What is the JoCo Cruise?” I learned it is also known as the Nerd Cruise.  It is a whole boat filled with nerds and nerdy things.  There were nerd musicians, comic writers, comedians, podcasters, novelists (mostly of speculative fiction), tabletop game creators, computer game developers, puzzle hunt makers, scriptwriters, actors and more.  These folks made music, did stand-up, gave presentations, read their latest drafts, recorded live podcasts, sat on panels, held office hours, taught their craft, led music circles or monster sewing workshops, designed puzzles to be solved during the cruise, and taught their games at the 24-hour table-top game library. And the eclectic nature of the celebs on board attracted eclectic cruisers who were also unabashedly nerdy.

This is a cruise where formal night means wearing a fez (like Dr. Who) and a mustache, no one really cares about ports of call, and day 7 is always pajama day, “‘cause who still has clean clothes?”  This is Comic Con meets Gen Con, and don’t forget your cos-play, which could mean the green unitard, or perhaps a 1860 period Victorian ball gown, or not!  The group is welcoming and encouraging.  Dinner conversation is spirited, funny and intellectual. Truly a fun time was had by all! 

This experience brought home yet again that being among people who can understand you and will accept you for who you are is so affirming! Where have you found your tribe?  Share your experiences here: Finding Your Tribe.